I had a quick look at the Wiki list, it doesn't help. To get a realistic view on English football you'd have to get rid of all the statistics from the last 15 years, their all tarnished by Sky money and therefore don't count.
The biggest two clubs in England are Manchester United and Liverpool, no other English clubs are in their league. Liverpool are more respected in Europe. There's a long list of other English clubs that I would consider big clubs, in no particular order - Arsenal, Villa, Spurs, Everton, Man City, Newcastle, Sunderland, Leeds, Sheff Wed, West Ham and I'll include Chelsea but they're only a temporary addition. I might have missed few.
Define buying a team, every team that has won the Prem in the last 15 years was a bought team, none of them were built from scratch, they were all bought and paid for by Sky TV money. All watched by the fickle and fashion concious middle classes who'll desert the game as soon as its not a fashion statement anymore.
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